Team Suzuki Alstare riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli know that there's more to be done after they ended the first day of World Superbike qualifying at the final Magny-Cours round in France with the 10th and 14th quickest lap times.
Haslam's 10th place was just over three-tenths-of-a-second off pole and Guintoli is half-a-second adrift on a day that saw the top 16 riders separated by less than a second.
Italian Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) set the day's quickest lap in qualifying with a time of 1:38.856, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second and Max Biaggi (Aprilia) third.
Leon Haslam - 10th, 1:39.238:
"It was just one of those close lap times days and really there's all to play for tomorrow. Basically though, today was not so bad and I am happy with the changes the team made from practice to qualifying. We made some adjustments to the gearing and now we need to work on some grip issues because that's where we were suffering. We need some more time on softer tyres so that we can work out which tyres we'll use for the races and we need to get the right set-up. The times are close and really there's only one split where I'm losing time and that could even be just one corner! So, if we can improve, we're going to be in the hunt for sure."
Sylvain Guintoli - 14th, 1:39.431:
"Today was quite good for a Friday for me! Often my Fridays are not so good and I spend the rest of the weekend playing catch-up, but today was better than usual. I'm only half a second down on pole, but 14th on the grid, so you can see that the times are very close - just like they have been all year! I've got some issues with rear grip, but sometimes that's to do with the track being a bit 'green' on the opening day. All season we've been having some problems with grip when the track is 'green' and hasn't got much rubber down. Tomorrow, we'll try a few different things on both bikes and see if we can find some more rear grip and what works best."
Friday qualifying: 1 Lorenzo Lanzi (ITA-Ducati) 1:38.856, 2 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati) 1:38.927, 3 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia) 1:38.972, 4 Luca Scassa (ITA-Ducati) 1:39.000, 5 Cal Crutchlow (GBR-Yamaha) 1:39.058, 6 Noriyuki Haga (JPN-Ducati) 1:39.091. 10 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) 1:39.238. 14 Sylvain
